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Hooray, summer is finally on its way, and so I thought it might be time for a little Handmade By Me update.

I can’t believe it has been so long since our last post, but while it may look like things have been very quiet on the outside, there has actually been a whole lot going on on the inside. But with that being said, there is one small issue and that is that the only problem with creating products for others and not for yourself, is that you don’t get to choose when the projects get launched, or even if they get launched, or when you can show some sneak peeks of what you are working on. So while we have been working on some seriously exciting projects behind the scenes, we have absolutely nothing that we can show you just yet!

What I can tell you, is that I have been working on some some exciting fashion brands creating and developing new designs for fabric, and then also helping others with developing existing designs into patterns and getting them ready to print. And we are also working on a few more custom designs and products for some lovely local restaurants, retailers and interior designers.

On a completely different note, I have also been really busy frantically working on a little collaboration I am doing with Anthony Shapiro, master of clay and wheel thrower extraordinaire : ) for Sanlam Handmade Contemporary Fair, an amazing design show which is on in Joburg this weekend. I am not sure if you are familiar with my pottery work, you may have seen some pics on my instagram feed, but Anthony has given me some of his bowls and vases that I have decorated using my favourite technique called Sgraffito, a form of decoration made by scratching through a surface to reveal a lower layer of a contrasting colour. Those who know me well will know to expect to see lots of foliage and lots of florals.

If you live in Joburg and have not been to this show do yourself a favour and go check it out, it is really one of my favourite shows with all the best of the best of South African and African design! We were lucky enough to be a part of it a couple of years ago and we loved every minute.

The show is on from 12-14 October on the rooftop of Hyde Park Shopping Centre. Look out out for COLLECT by Anthony Shapiro in the Homeware Pavilion, and click here for more info about the show.

Then just a little side note that our online shop is still open for any fabric and wallpaper orders. I am so happy to see this part of our business is still doing so well.

And for any of our lovely stockists out there, just a small reminder that Christmas is around the corner (like I really need to remind you; )) so you might want to get those wholesale orders in as soon as possible.

I am happy to say that we still have a lovely bunch of retailers still carrying our products so if you are after some of our goodies please check out our list of stockists.

Hope to see you back here with some pics of what’s been going on, but until then, wishing you all a wonderful week ahead.

It has been a little while since we made the decision to close our doors and make some changes to our little business, and I thought maybe it was time for an update, as you may be wondering what we have been up to lately, or possibly where we are going.

Life sometimes has a way of deciding things for you even though you think you know better, and as much as we have spent most of our time wrapping up handmade by me and selling off all our last stock, as well as enjoying a small break, the demand for our products is still going strong. And so, with that in mind, we have decided to keep our wholesale orders open for a little while longer. Our online shop will continue to sell our fabrics and wallpapers, but anyone looking for any other products will need to purchase directly from our list of stockists.

We have also been very fortunate to have had some exciting bespoke design projects on the go. Amongst others, we made slippers for Ellerman House and introduced tote bags to the range of products we previously created for Klein Constantia, and we have a number of other exciting opportunities still in progress or in the pipeline. This for me has been very serendipitous, as well as creatively rewarding, and I am very excited to see where it goes.

If you’re still not sure what the hell we’re doing, or maybe you’re wondering how we can work together, these are our core services on offer below.

Design Service

Handmade By Me has extensive experience in designing and developing prints and patterns that can be applied to any surface including apparel, home furnishing, wall decor, gift items, accessories and paper goods.

We also offer a full graphic design service from logos and branding to newsletters and web banners.

If you are looking for any graphic or pattern/graphic design assistance, or possibly a design collaboration (which we LOVE), please email us for more info and rates.

Design & Product Service

We offer a custom design and print service on all our available fabrics and wallpapers. Whether you have a design in mind, or if you need design assistance, we can have the products printed for you.

We also assist other businesses with designing, creating and producing bespoke ranges of high quality locally-made products that are unique to them. Some of our clients include The Trading Store at Spice Route, Klein Constantia, Ellerman House and Singita Game Reserve.

If you are a hotel or shop looking to have some bespoke products made specially for you please email us for more info.

So, life has a funny way of working itself out sometimes, specially when you think you finally have it all under control!

Just as we were preparing for the closing of our little retail store last week, we heard the news that we have been invited to go and show our products at a big trade show in New York next week! Wesgro, together with funding from the DTI, are very kindly organising and paying for us to go on this amazing export opportunity! It happened so fast that we didn’t even have time to think about it, and next thing we knew my flight was booked and my freight was being collected.

So New York City, here we come! And I obviously could not be more excited! I am flying out today and will be back on the 12th of March, and because this is all very last-minute and completely unexpected, I am so sorry but I am going to have to postpone our massive online sale until I return. But I do promise to make it even better and bigger to make up for the delay.

Please bare with us for any delay in communication over the next 2 weeks, we will be back to normal asap.

Just a quick little first blog post of the year to wish you all a happy and healthy 2018! We hope you’ve all had a nice break, and that you feel as refreshed as we do for the new year ahead.

As the year has barely just begun, we don’t have too much news to share with you just yet, but we would like to share with you a lovely little project we were working on toward the end of last year.

I’m not sure if you know, but Klein Constantia, home of the infamous Vin de Constance, has just had a little make-over with a new gift shop, as well as a new restaurant which should have opened up to the public last week. Handmade By Me was brought on board to help develop some exclusive new products for the gift shop which is really something we LOVE to do. It was also really great that Klein Constantia had some lovely imagery on hand that we were able to use on a whole range of different products including cushions, tea towels, pot stand/trivets and trays. We’re hoping to expand on the range throughout the year, but we’re so happy with the responses we’ve had so far.

Then in other news, here is our #bestnine2017 from Instagram. We didn’t get to share this with you before the year was out, so here you go. Sometimes you really need to look back to see how far you’ve come. The fact that my book managed to grab one of the places makes me lol, but also happy to see our Foliage prints and media love up there!

Thank you to our friend Kerry for sharing these photos of the sweetest baby Max showing off his unique crawling style and interesting model poses in his African Aloes nappy cover.

So while we frantically run around trying to get the last of the Christmas orders out, we wanted to stop and take a moment to thank each and every one of you who have supported us in any way over the past year.

2017 has definitely been the most interesting of years for us, with all kinds of highs and lows, and everything you can imagine in between. And we just can’t tell you how much we appreciate everything from the tiniest of orders in the shop, to the biggest of orders going overseas, the recommendations and suggestions, the pics and the shares, the likes, and most importantly all the love! We honestly wouldn’t be here without you. So, from all of us at Handmade By Me, we would like to say a big THANK YOU.

Wishing you all the happiest of holidays and a merry Christmas if you celebrate, and we can’t wait to see you back here next year!

Sera

Please note that tomorrow (wednesday) is the last day for any online orders in time for Xmas, but the Handmade By Me + Windowsill shop will be open until and including Saturday 23 December for any last-minute needs.

And we will be closing for small break from 23 December to 9 January 2018.

And in other news, we recently added some new products to our range. Our new double-sided LUX Panama Foliage 60x60cm cushion covers, as well as our lampshades!

We also added 2 new colour ways to our Foliage Wallpaper. Introducing Light Green and Turquoise, what do you think?

You might remember we were recently looking for some donations for the the S-Cape project with Lanalou Style and Studio Melissa Louise where they were given the opportunity to revamp and transform a safe house and create an uplifting space for young women coming out of trafficking and sexual exploitation.

Well done Lana and Melissa on a really great job! And pretty amazing considering you relied solely on donations!

We’re so excited to see the final result! And so happy we got to play a very small part in this really fantastic initiative.